8 enduring tips and tricks for keyword research

In many respects, keyword research is a critical marketing activity, as it can dictate everything from writing blog posts to bidding for PPC. But unlike other promotional processes, which need to be amended and updated all the time, your approach towards keyword research doesn’t necessarily need to change.

If you stick to a set of fundamental foundations, which have been proven to work in the past and will no doubt work in the future too, you can always remain relevant and on point with your audience.

Create a funnel

Although search intent might shift up or down the funnel depending on your industry, you can still establish which channels are emphasised at different points in the user’s journey with Google’s own Customer Journey to Online Purchase.

Look at PPC Performance

Seeing as you don’t have time to guess which keyphrases are going to work, there is nothing wrong with paying Google to do it for you. Start with the product or service name, look up related keywords to balance relevance, and then load them into AdWords.

Bring existing pages together

Despite the fact category pages on platforms like WordPress can bring together closely related topics for users, they create duplicate content and canonicalisation issues on search engines. Therefore, identify content with the same topic or theme, compile posts into a few hub pages, and research what relevant keyphrases have in common.

Consider seasonality

Think carefully about the times of year when your products or services are particularly popular and being searched for a lot. You can noticeably increase traffic numbers if you utilise long-tail variations of your most important keywords.

Capitalise on trending topics

While some trending topics are difficult to predict, others are a nailed on certainty. For example, there are bound to be multiple events throughout the year that your audience will be talking lots about. Simply create content using keywords closely related to your product or service and the topic in question.

Use your on-site search

Have you ever stopped to realise that when visitors type a query into your on-site search, they are literally telling you what they want to see? It might sound obvious, but this is such a good resource for keyword research it often goes ignored or overlooked.

Invent branded keyphrases

Branded keyphrases aren’t limited to the name of a company and its products or services; it can also include invented industry terms designed to build your identity. To find out more, go to Audiences in Google Analytics and scroll down to Interests. Here you will find the Affinity Categories option, where you can analyse site behaviour for different consumer groups.

Get the right balancing act

First and foremost, you need keyphrases that are related to what you do or offer. Second of all, you must determine volume and whether the term is extremely popular, a good opportunity, or has little demand at all. Last but not least, you have got to look at the competition, specifically the other brands going after the same words.